Taken Away
by DogDrawler
Summary: Judy Hopps lives her life in the realm of the big city. New experiences, new cases, and new relationships test her as never before. Soon, she realizes that a small bunny in a big world is both a warzone and a paradise.
1. Prologue

Prologue (written on July 16th, 2016)

In the slump that was her apartment, the bunny looked outside the window and saw the hustling and bustling of life in the city. While loud music would play next door, quiet music would play in her mind. Although there was discomfort as she struggled to reach the window sill, she found the city relaxing in the night. She was succumbing to the life of a city dweller. Oddly, in some way, the "quietness" of the city reminded her too much of Bunnyburrow.

She sighed, soaking in the odd scent of the flat. She relaxed her large ears as she rested her arms on the window sill. She thought of Nick. Oh, that fox. Her comrade in fighting crime. Such an awesome duo, they were.


	2. Chapter 1: Someone at the Door

Chapter 1: Someone at the Door **(written on July 17th, 2016)**

As she slept on her clearly used bed, there was a knock on the door that awoke her. At first, she paid no mind to it. She curled up the blanket and put the pillow on her head to try to drown out the noise. But more knocking occurred. Judy then sat upright on her bed and looked at the door. Although her eyelids were heavy, she could see the shadow of someone's feet under the door as light came in from the bottom. Judy gasped. After studying the shadow, she could deduce that they were rabbits' feet.

More knocking, this time harder against the wooden door.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" She moved the sheets out of the way, and slipped into her bunny slippers. She quickly walked to the door and opened it.

There was no one. "Hello?" She looked down the badly lit hallways and saw no one in sight. There was hardly a sound aside from the hard metal from the next room. It frightened her.

She closed her door and proceeded to grab her smartphone. After scrolling down the call log, she chose Nick. Fifteen seconds of ringing occurred before his voicemail automatically activated.

"Hey, Carrots! Nice to know you're callin' me! If you're hearing this, it means I'm not available right now. Call me back sometime! I'll be sure to answer eventually. Ciao!"

"Worth a try," Judy muttered. Putting down her phone on the desk, she looked outside her window. It was sprinkling. Down in the parking lot, she could've sworn she saw a bunny wearing a transparent raincoat crawl into an orange van. She couldn't make out any details, but something was very suspicious. Who knocks, then runs away? Surely this can't be a prank. No kid would be up at this hour.

She made her way downstairs and out the front door into the rain. She looked at the parking lot and saw the space where the van was. It was a handicapped spot. Interesting...

She looked around for any telltale signs and couldn't find any as the rain began to intensify. Five minutes later, she couldn't handle it and went back inside, towards her room. Her clothes were soaking wet, and every time she stepped, large puddles were created. The bunny took off her clothes, dried herself off, and put on the uniform she was going to wear for the day ahead. "There's no way I'm sleeping after this. Might as well get ready for work."

 **Later...**

"Hopps! Officer Hopps! Wake up!" The bunny woke at an instant some of Chief Bogo's spit got in her ears.

"That's a nice drool puddle you got goin' on there," Nick chuckled. Judy looked at the table and saw the drool under her head.

"Oh... Sorry. I didn't get that much sleep last night."

"Enough!" Bogo fumed. "As I was saying, there has been a skirmish between some of the wolves in Tundratown. According to reports, wolves have been hospitalized with broken limbs and clawmarks on their bodies with varying degrees of severity. We are sending officers to quell the violence, preferably our canine forces." As the chief listed the animals going to be stationed at Tundratown by looking down at his clipboard, Nick began whispering something to his friend.

"Psst! _Judy! Why did you call me last night?_ "

" _Somebody knocked on my door at two a.m. and ran off. I wanted to notify you._ "

" _That's why you didn't sleep at night? Why me?_ "

" _Well, because the suspect ran off in a van similar to your friend's._ "

" _What color was it?_ " he asked.

" _Orange._ " Nick's eyes widened.

" _Nonsense. Finnick isn't like that. It was probably a simple coincidence. Nothing more. Nothing less. Was there a design on the side of the vehicle?_ "

" _I couldn't tell. The showers were obscuring my view._ "

" _How can you be so sure it was orange then?_ "

" _I don't know, Nick! Some things I could tell. Some things I couldn't. I'm only telling you what I know for certain._ "

" _It's alright, Carrots, I believe you. What do you think of it?_ "

" _Suspicious activity, it was..._ " Judy rubbed her chin with her left elbow on the table.


	3. Chapter 2: Obscured

Chapter 2: Obscured **(written on August 14th, 2016)**

"See Nick? Ya see?" said Judy, pointing at the orange blur on the screen. They were looking over the traffic tapes near her apartment complex. Judy had rewound the footage to before one-thirty and played it to one-forty where the van crossed a street about one hundred yards from the complex. She played the interval of time over and over again to see the van again and again.

"I guess you're right. It's orange," the fox admitted. He was leaning on the nearby wall. "Why do you keep playing it over and over instead of just looking over the other streets so we can trace this vehicle? You know, like last time, the good ol' days?"

"Well, while personally I'd want to forget the so-called 'good ol' days' this is a reason–a simple reason: the car disappears after this. While you were coming here late, I was busy looking through all the footage from the security cameras. Perhaps you want to be more aware of surroundings as there is tapes laying all around your feet right now." Nick looked down at his feet and saw the mess before him. "I'll clean it up later."

"I wonder why Zootopia uses videocassettes to house their traffic footage? They're so ten years ago. Also, I was only late for twenty minutes! How can you look through a countless yard radius of street footage in that amount of time? Downtown is so big for one car, and it appears more so in the pouring rain for Pete's sake!"

"C'mon fox. You should know by now that I take my work very seriously. Valedictorian of the academy, remember?"

"Don't remind me for the twentieth time." Nick sighed.

"Don't deem me as boastful. I'm not. It's just some out of there still think I'm worth nothing to the city, especially wearing the honorable blue."

"I'm not deeming anything less than very intelligent. Your reiterations just annoy me."

"I'm sorry, okay."

"No need to apologize, Fluff, just look at the tape."

"Right, sorry, I'm getting sidetracked." She peered at the screen. The rain last night was intense. Moisture from the Rainforest District blew toward the colder air and triggered thunderstorms across downtown. The rain was obscuring the objects on the screen immensely. Nick could tell the bunny was getting frustrated with the results, looking over and over again to find the slightest clue.

An hour later, Nick offered the bunny a break.

* * *

 **(hey, sorry, this chapter is short. i was in a hurry.)**


	4. Chapter 3: Lunchtime

Chapter 3: Lunchtime **(written from April 28th to April 29th, 2018)**

Later in the day, Judy and Nick met up at the Camel Café for their lunch break. On a table set up outside, they sat across from each other. While waiting for the server to come, Nick laid out a bunch of papers. His partner looked over and noticed the mess before reaching in and organized everything.

"Gee, keep your files together. The last thing you want is to have confidential information blowing in the wind." Suddenly, a piece of paper caught her eye as it nearly fell out of the pile. It was a receipt from a jewelry store. Before she could inspect further, a set of paws snatched it from her hands.

"Sorry, Carrots. You're on a need-to-know basis with that one." He drew a smirk that Judy vehemently dismissed with a smirk of her own.

"Nick... how are we gonna do our job when we keep secrets from each other?"

"Think of it more as a provisional enigma."

"I'm sure Chief Bogo would understand that," she replied sarcastically.

"It has nothing to do with our investigations. That's the most I can tell you." He began to chuckle. "I promise I'm not a part of any conspiracy to topple society, so could ya loosen the glare." Judy sighed, realizing this was one of her partner's shenanigans.

"Hello, fellas! Welcome to the Camel Café! What would you like to order? We have special services given to our dedicated law enforcement!"

"That won't be necessary, but I'd like to have the Saharan collard greens, please," said Judy. "Hold the croutons." The camel at their service proceeded to write it down on his tiny notepad.

"Escargot, please."

"Got it, fox. Will that be all fellas?"

"Yeah. Here's a tip."

"Aw, that's okay! The pays here are high. But you can tip our janitor over there." He pointed to a small animal inside the restaurant wearing a trench coat, standing near the restrooms with a broom in his hands.

As Judy went inside, Nick motioned the waiter to come closer to him.

"Hey, I'm trying to set up something special for her. If you guys aren't super busy, I would love it if you guys could stuff this in her food. If you know what I mean." Nick cautiously brought out a silver bracelet hidden behind his badge.

"Ohhh, yeah, yeah! Anything for a special someone!"

"Cool. And if I could suggest, add a mango scent to it. That's like her go-to fragrance."

"Of course!"

 **Meanwhile...**

"Hey, man. I'd like to give you a tip for your cleaning. You've done a wonderful job." The animal turned around. It was white male rabbit who had chipped front tooth. He appeared unhappy and under his eyes were dark circles.

"Oy, thanks." He snatched the money from her hand. Immediately afterward, he resumed playing an app on his phone.

"Umm, okay?"

"I like getting free money."

"Free?"

"Yeah. I don't do anythin' here."

"Then where's the janitor?"

"In there." He gestured to the female bathroom.

"Sorry." She proceeded to enter. At that moment, the rabbit quickly followed her inside, a fox taser in his right hand.


	5. Chapter 4: A Larger Plan

Chapter 4: A Larger Plan **(written on November 2nd, 2018)**

 **Three days later...**

She couldn't remember anything concrete. It was a bunch of flashes of light. Pieces were there but the puzzle was thrown into the air. She never thought she could smell emptiness. When she regained consciousnesses, she was welcomed by the deep echoing of her breath. Blindfolded, she could see the large space she was in, and the more she struggled, the more her cuffs would get tighter.

She felt thin wood underneath her bottom. It was a chair that she could tell was bound to the floor below. It was cold, but there was no breeze. All the while she felt violated. Not that she had been kidnapped—no—but that her gold badge had been forcibly removed from her uniform. She perceived her current state of identity as alien, a state of limbo between a cop and a civilian. It was the greyness between black and white.

She had no clue how long she had been staying there. She knew one thing, though. She had to leave... and fast. So many animals must be worried sick about her! And Nick? Oh... Nick... If she couldn't rescue herself, she was darn sure Nick would bite his own tail off trying to rescue. Even if there were in some delusional dimension where he wouldn't, Chief Bogo would be knees deep in all of his officers for sure. Nobody takes a cop and gets away with it—which lead Judy to think why on Earth would anyone try? Clearly this was a planned event. Nobody would take her unless they were positive that the kidnapping would be successful. The thing about crime-saturated animals was that no matter, they do things to keep the cycle of their institution running. They needed her. The question was why.

"Please, make yourself at home," echoed a masculine voice in front of Judy. "Hope the straps aren't too tight."

"Tight enough to be illegal," she replied sternly. "You mind telling what's going on?"

"Oh, sure, and while I'm at it, I should give you my name and what I do just so you can post it on some dating site."

"Can't blame a girl for a trying."

"I suppose not, but let me remind you who's the tied up one here."

"And let me remind you some history. Good guys win. Bad guys lose. Rinse. Repeat."

"You should know the best villains are the ones who are the best heroes in their perspective of the story."

"Same could be said for you."

"Ha, ha! You're smart! I'm not gonna lie; they weren't wrong about you. You're perhaps a greater potential asset than we could ever dream up. You should give yourself a nice pat on the back."

"Untie me and I will."

"I prefer to do the honors." Judy was unaware a huge foot hanged above her. With the click of his teeth, the foot came down and a boom echoed throughout the airport hanger.

 **Meanwhile...**

A knock on the door ensued while Bonnie was knitting on the rocking chair. Her husband was napping on the couch with ten of their offspring on his chest.

"Stu, honey, could you get the door? Please!?"

"Ugh. It probably Pop-Pop confusing our house as the neighbors'."

"I don't get that many visitors. I know a different knock when I hear one."

"Fine, fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Stu opened the door and saw two yellow legs towering above the porch. He screamed and took a step back. It was Mayor Lionheart.

"Oh, is this the door? Hi! This is the mayor of Zootopia. I've come to personally deliver some news to the family of Officer Hopps." Bonnie's ears instantly perked and she hopped to the front door.

"Some news? Please come in!"

"Uhh, dear? I don't think Mr. Lionheart and his security can fit in our house," said Stu.

"Oh... right..."

"No worries. I've come alone. You know Officer Hopps has been such a dedicated treasure to my city, handling crime wherever she sees it, including stopping a devious plot involving my own colleagues, but something has happened that appears to have gotten the best of her."

"What?"

"She was just reported missing after not showing up for work for three days in a row. In her line of duty, it's safe to assume she's been compromised."

"Really?!"

"Yes. I've also come to personally give my condolences and assure you my citizens are doing everything they can to find her and bring the ones who took to justice."

"Stu, we've got to do something! Our baby is out there, and needs our help!"

"What are we were gonna do? We're just a bunch of carrot farmers. That's the big bad world out there!"

"Judy is a Hopps like all of us. If she can do it so can we. We're going to Zootopia."

"But honey, who's gonna watch the kids? Pop-Pop?" They looked at each other and replied in unison.

"Gideon can do it."


	6. Chapter 5: Guilty

Chapter 5: Guilty **(written on November 8th, 2018)**

For hours, Nick sat quietly in the briefing room alone after the other officers left. In his right paw a silver bracelet was being fiddled between his fingers. He glared at the piece of jewelry with acute worry. It was the item with its weaving threads of stainless steel and orange-stained .5 carat diamonds that Judy was supposed to own on the day she disappeared. She disappeared sooner than expected... It wasn't part of the plan... He was trying to send a message to him. He meant business.

He knew this mysterious white rabbit. Not just white but albino. It was impossible to forget his red beaming eyes. In his days as a reckless adolescent, Nick had heard of a gangster so notorious his own name was illegal. When Nick had once briefly dabbled in the more serious parts of crime, he was lucky to get a chance to meet him. He was small like all rabbits, but his presence was nothing of that sort. His voice, stern like an earthquake, dripped of character. He wore a trench coat covered in burns and a hat so big that it concealed most of his head. His large ears were in bad shape, coated with too many earrings to count. When Nick had met him, his idol became one of his greatest fears. It caused Nick to turn around and stick to petty crime. Nick was a smart cheater, not a killer, but this rabbit was a ruthless murderer.

So when Nick had met him again a week ago, he was sure nothing good would come of it. Despite the fact the crime boss now struggled with forearm crutches, he didn't view him any less dangerous. If anything, the less dangerous he looked, the more he actually was. He had no idea his investigation would lead him to this rabbit, but it did, and he was irreversibly trapped into his plan. He threatened the fox with death if he and Finnick didn't bring him his partner, Judy. He wanted her for something...

By the time Judy was gone for the third day, most of the officers were dispatched to search for her. Nick felt an incredible weight in his gut as his fellow officers chatted endlessly about where their most passionate member might be. He couldn't tell them. Although the rabbit never mentioned whether he could, he knew if he did, he'd live a life in constant paranoia, watching his back until his inevitable death. The white rabbit was not dumb. He had so much dominance, he didn't need to warm animals in the event of a betrayal. They knew he already had a solid grip of control just from the extreme confidence in his manner.

Nick wanted to cry. Knowing Judy was going be kidnapped, he planned to solidify their friendship by giving her a thoughtful bracelet. She needed to know that he cared profoundly about her. If she was going to be taken away, she needed a symbol or something to remember him, that someday he will come for her. But it didn't happen. Nick waited at the Camel Cafe and prayed that her sudden disappearance was not early. But it was. And all he could do was use the bracelet as a symbol of her, that he missed his partner. She was the first prey animal to really accept him. That ever-smiling bunny was worth everything.

"Hey! You're still in here?" barked Officer Wolfard upon entering the briefing room. "Is something wrong, brother?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Nick replied meekly.

"We're all family in the ZPD. What concerns you concerns me." Wolfard grabbed a chair and sat in front of the fox. "Talk to me. Canine to canine."

"Well... it's kinda personal, so I can't say much, but what would you do if your friend is on a path downhill, and you were helpless to stop it?" The wolf took a short look at the table before answering.

"Hmm... If you're helpless to stop it, find someone who isn't." Nick then nodded. "This isn't about your partner Judy, is it?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I hope you know we're doing everything we can to find her."

"It's not about her, I swear!" yelled Nick.

"Alright, alright, Wilde. I just wanna make sure you're fit for duty. We can't let strong feelings tamper our progress."

"I'm fine."

"Okay, if you say so." Officer Wolfard got up and proceeded to leave. "Hey, if you're gonna stay in here all day, let Chief know."

"I will."

Nick sighed after the door was closed. If he was feeling this way, he couldn't imagine what horrible chamber Judy was being kept in. But he knew she was tough, much tougher than him. It takes an unfathomable amount of strength to bring her to her knees. Have mercy on anyone who tries.


End file.
